The body of a harbour porpoise has been washed up on Great Yarmouth beach, attracting the attention of dog walkers and visitors.

The animal was first spotted on New Year's Day and could still be seen on Sunday. John Dearn spotted the marine mammal while out with his dog on Sunday and took this picture of it beached on the sand at the northern end of the town's beach.

Carl Chapman, Norfolk's cetacean recorder and regional co-ordinator of the Seawatch Foundation, was aware of the mammal's body, and said the porpoise was likely to have been washed up whole with the wound being caused by gulls picking at the carcass.

'What gulls tend to do when they find something dead on the beach like this is pick at it and basically they go for the soft parts and open them up,' he added.